The Warrior's Way (Review)

Action/Western mashup falls way short

An assassin
(Dong-gun Jang channeling the young Chow Yun-Fat) who refuses to kill
an infant — the last of his master’s people — and ends up
hiding out in America with the baby among a carny troupe in the Wild
West in The Warrior’s Way. Could Clint Eastwood’s Man With
No Name have survived as a ronin in the East? That’s one of the
interesting ideas audiences can contemplate while waiting for
something of note to happen here.

Dong-gun Jang is a Korean export
with none of the smoldering charisma that Chow Yun-Fat brought to his
signature roles before his less-than-stellar efforts to crack
Hollywood (think The Killer versus Bulletproof Monk),
but he certainly has lithe athleticism and long dark locks.

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But where
is the fierce glare that signals the code of honor that links ninjas
and cowboys? Eastwood and Chow Yun-Fat knew the right way, that’s
for sure (if we’re lucky, someone might someday give us that
glorious match made in mash-up heaven).

Sadly, first-time
writer-director Sngmoo Lee’s movie is not the realization of that
dream. The Warrior’s Way falls way short in its attempt to
raise a ruckus between two cinematic warrior clans known for high
body counts and cool kills, thoroughly wasting the scenery-chewing
talents of Geoffrey Rush and Danny Huston and even the pixie-cuteness
of Kate Bosworth. Grade: D-plus

Opens Dec. 3. Check out theaters and show times, see the trailer and get theater details here.